Fed Up With Politics As Is

I've had it. As an American voter, I've hit the limit. I've passed some dark point of no return. I am officially at the stage of being ready for election day next Tuesday, not because I'm anxious to vote and to see election results, but because I want relief from the endless sewage of ugly, mean-spirited campaign ads. It is a complete affront and embarrassment. It makes me ashamed to be a part of this political system.

I hear people say that it has to be this way just because it's the nature of politics. That's pure unadulterated horse manure. Lack of statesmanship exists because we are willing to tolerate the alternative and we're willing to elect people who have no moral compass when it comes to the end justifies the means. There's no "that's just the way it is" about this gutter level mess. It is the way it is because we've allowed it to get to this point.

I am voting for one candidate in our region with any level of enthusiasm. This is not a person I would otherwise support based on politics alone. (I'm an independent voter, so that's a pretty wide range.) However, this individual has waged a campaign, as far as I can tell, without negativity or any comment at all about the person's opponent. Ads have been focused on the candidates record, background, and basic philosophy of government alone. I am casting a vote for this candidate based on the integrity of advertising alone. Beyond this individual, I have no enthusiasm for any race at all, regardless of political party. Based on the character exemplified in what they're willing to put on the airways with their name on it, do we really want ANY of them representing us for ANYTHING?!? I'm tempted to just start writing in names of people I know. I'm aware of plenty of people in our region who have character, solid values, compassion, commitment, leadership skills, and even Christ-centeredness; way more than I see most present candidates exemplifying.

And if I'm one of those whose default position is, "This is all George W. Bush's fault," or "This is all Barack Obama's fault," I need to get a grip on reality. It's the fault of all of us. If I really believe either of those simplistic fantasies, then I'm more part of the problem than I am part of the solution.

From the political curmudgeon of the day, I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Grace Comes First

Name something in your life that doesn't have some sort of conditions attached to it. To read this blog right now, you have to pay someone for Internet access. If you are employed, you have to fulfill your duties according to your contract in order to receive pay. If you have an educational degree of any kind, you had to measure up to the conditions necessary to receive that degree. Most of life is conditional. In most cases, that's necessary.

However, it's not hard to become overwhelmed with the demands all around us to measure up to conditions. Even places of worship often have spoken or unspoken conditions required for belonging..."To measure up, you must look like us, act like us, speak like us, think like us, worship like us, etc. etc." I don't know of any place of worship that intends any ill will in this. Still, when we who are church people put conditions on those who might become a part of us, how are we any different than any other demand in their lives? Why would they want to add one more conditional demand to measure up to already stressed lives?

I don't think many people really realize how radically different Jesus is than all this. Jesus' love, which is known as "grace," comes first, without conditions. It's not, "Get your act together, measure up, then you get grace." Rather, it's, "Grace comes first!" Check it out. Google or do some kind of search of Bible stories for things like, "Zaccheus," or "The Woman Caught in Adultery." Jesus did not withhold grace until these people cleaned up their acts. Rather, his grace came first and life transformation followed.

If it's really true that grace comes first, how would that change how you think, what you believe, and how you live?

I'll see you around the next bend in the river. (Been on several rivers in the last couple of weeks!)